1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system wherein a print preview of printed material that a terminal will produce, in accordance with form data supplied from a host computer, is created at the host computer and the print settings at the time the desired preview is obtained are downloaded to the terminal equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a network system. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a host computer, 2 is a printer dedicated to the host, 3a is an analyzing section, 3b is a printing section, 4 is a terminal (a personal computer, a workstation, or the like), 5 is a host terminal printer emulator, 6 is a printer driver, and 7 is a printer.
The host computer 1 has its dedicated printer 2. The dedicated printer 2 includes the analyzing section 3a and the printing section 3b. The analyzing section 3a analyzes the form data transferred from the host computer 1, creates print data (e.g., a sequence of character codes and control codes) representing the material to be printed, and passes the created print data to the printing section 3b. The printing section 3b performs printing in accordance with the supplied print data.
The terminal 4 and the host computer 1 are connected via a data line. The terminal 4 is a personal computer, a workstation, or the like, and contains therein the host terminal printer emulator 5 and the printer driver 6. The host terminal printer emulator 5 is one that replaces the functions of the host terminal printer 2, hardware dedicated to the host, with software that runs on the personal computer or workstation, and thus enables the digital data from the host computer to be printed using the ordinary office printer 7. More specifically, when the form data sent from the host computer 1 is received, the host terminal printer emulator 5 creates the print data by analyzing the form data, and passes the created print data to the printer driver 6. The printer driver 6 converts the print data into a form that the printer 7 can understand, and passes the thus converted print data to the printer 7.
In the prior art, at the host computer, there is no knowing what print settings the host terminal printer emulator and the printer driver have; hence, it has not been possible at the host computer to accurately predict the results of the printing produced at the terminal. Furthermore, the kinds of print settings that the host computer can specify to the host terminal printer emulator and the printer driver are extremely limited in number, so that the host computer cannot set all the print parameters that can be changed at the host terminal printer emulator side.